DAVIDSON, N.C. — The High Point University women’s lacrosse team took an 11-9 loss to Davidson, the Panthers’ first Big South loss of the season, on Friday evening in Davidson, N.C. Junior defender Jasmine Jordan had a goal, four ground balls, three draw controls and three caused turnovers for HPU.
“Davidson capitalized on some opporutnities and we didn’t execute on all of our shots,” said HPU head coach Lyndsey Boswell. “I thought we were prepared coming in so it was a disappointing loss but we’ve got two Big South games to go. We’ll try to get wins there and then win the Big South Tournament.
High Point fell to 6-7 overall and 4-1 in Big South play while Davidson improved to 8-5 overall and 5-0 in the Big South. The Wildcats are alone in first place in the Big South standings and are in position to host the Big South Tournament April 26-28.
Along with Jordan’s stellar game, redshirt-senior Grace Gaeng and freshman Emily Meier each scored twice. Gaeng added three draw controls.
Davidson was led by Emma Sissman, who scored three times in the first half, as well as Alanna Parker, who scored two goals. Sophomore attacker Emily Cooke scored once and had seven assists.
Jordan’s goal came late in the game when she caused a turnover, picked up the ball and cleared it for the score, making it 8-8 with 17:30 left. After Davidson’s Liz Edwards scored, Meier created her own play for her second goal of the game, tying it at 9-9 with 13:01 to play.
Davidson scored the last two goals and held on over the final six minutes for the win. Mary Leonard scored the game-winner with 10:31 on the clock and Parker capped it with her 22nd goal of the season with 6:00 left.
The game was tight all the way with the Wildcats holding a slight edge in the first half before the Panthers scored four of the last five goals to take the lead at the break. Davidson made it 4-2 when Emily Rademacher scored with 10:30 to go in the first. Gaeng and freshman Allie Foard scored consecutively to tie it at 4-4 before Sissman scored with 6:59 left.
Down by a goal, High Point capped a several-minute possession with a goal by junior midfielder Alec Perry with 1:11 left in the first half. It extended her season-long goal-scoring streak and was her 24th goal of the season. Gaeng scored a highlight-reel goal with 19.9 on the clock to give HPU its first lead of the game, 6-5. She evaded a defender, diving to her right and shooting into the top of the net.
Davidson goalie Jessica Melby made 13 saves and had two ground balls for her eighth win of the season. High Point goalie Anna Wallingford made five saves and had four ground balls in the loss.
The Panthers are back on the road on Monday to play Campbell at 3 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C. The Camels are in their first season of varsity play and faced off against Presbyterian on Friday.